Word Origin & History

cutpurse "one who steals by the method of cutting purses, a common practice when men wore their purses at their girdles" [Johnson], mid-14c., from cut (v.) + purse. The word continued after the method switched to picking pockets.

Example Sentences for cutpurse

He excludes "the insolence of office," and "the cutpurse of the empire and the rule."

The pickpocket plied his trade, only he was then a cutpurse.

I feel as if only to think of it were lowering myself to the level of some cutpurse.

Some apprentices had caught a cutpurse in the crowd, and were beating him unmercifully.

He tickles his ears with a straw, and while he is pleased with scratching it, picks his pocket, as the cutpurse served Bartl.

Feb. 10th, at two after none I toke a cutpurse taking my purse out of my pocket in the Temple.

Here and there, a cutpurse slunk through the crowd, seeking his own type of bargain—an unwary victim.

A Cutpurse is of the surest trade; for his work is no sooner done, but he hath his money in his hand.

Januka, my fingers are itching (indicating the fisherman) to kill this cutpurse.